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How Business Antivirus Protection Is Different from Consumer

If you own a small business, you might have questions about the differences between consumer and business antivirus protection, and why those differences matter. These questions usually arise as that small business’s IT footprint.

Protecting your small business started off simply enough

When you started the business, it was just you, and the only network you needed was a way to get online. That could have been through Wi-Fi or LAN, but either way it was very similar to your home setup. For malware protection, you didn’t need business antivirus software, just the same consumer product you were using on your home computers.

As you added more employees, it became necessary to store files from centralized locations rather than from individual’s computers. Your new file server needed to be large enough and fast enough to handle current needs and future growth.

Business antivirus provides server and endpoint protection

While consumer antivirus software handles each desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone individually, business antivirus views these individual devices as endpoints in a network, all connected at one or more servers.

Business antivirus software is loaded to or connects with the server, rather than each individual device

From the server, business antivirus connects with all of the individual endpoints on the network

Monitoring and administration of the business antivirus software is centralized on the server, making it possible for the IT staff to work far more efficiently than if they had to manage each endpoint separately

Available on-premises or in the cloud

Like all software that’s been around for a while, business antivirus software predates the cloud. And while cloud-based antivirus protection is taking a larger share of the market, it is still available and still the choice of many businesses. Because the software is loaded directly onto the server, it is commonly referred to as on-premises.

Some business owners and IT pros might prefer having everything at hand, and would therefore prefer an on-premises solution. Another consideration for a small business that is beginning to use more and more cloud services may center on a lack of bandwidth. If bandwidth is a legitimate concern, you have to decide which investment makes more sense to you: increase your bandwidth so you can access business antivirus from the cloud, or carry what may be significant infrastructure costs to keep your virus protection on-premises.

Infrastructure costs for on-premises antimalware solutions include the servers where they live, maintenance and replacement of those servers, backup systems, insurance costs and the cost of electricity to operate the servers.

Cloud-based business antivirus comes with no infrastructure costs. Everything is in the cloud. Maintenance is provided by the vendor at no additional cost.

With cost such a critical factor for small- to- medium-sized businesses, it’s no wonder that cloud-based business antivirus is being adopted at a rate that is rapidly outpacing expert predictions.

As thousands of new cyber threats emerge every day, it’s essential that all businesses protect themselves from attack. Whether you go with on-premises or cloud, the cost of doing something proactively is potentially far less than doing nothing and hoping for the best.